The White House plans to discredit infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci amid rise in coronavirus cases, according to a government official.
A White House official revealed to NBC News that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.”
NBC News received a copy of a list of past statements made by Dr. Fauci earlier in the pandemic from the official. This is seen as the basis why the White House may discredit Dr. Fauci.
The list mentions the top health expert saying in January that coronavirus was “not a major threat” and “not driven by asymptomatic carriers” as well as Dr. Fauci’s remark in March that “people should not be walking around with masks.”
The list passed on by the White House appears similar to the opposition research that political candidates distribute to the media about their rivals.
However, most of the statements made by Dr. Fauci were based on the best available data at the time. These were also the same messages expressed by Trump, the task force, and top White House officials.
“When you learn more, you change those recommendations. Our recommendations have changed," said Surgeon General Jerome Adams during an interview with CBS News on Sunday.
The criticisms against Dr. Fauci come as coronavirus cases multiply across the country. However, the White House on Sunday did not give comment about Fauci.
White House spokesman Kayleigh McEnany did not also comment about whether President Donald Trump still has faith in Dr. Fauci. Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci was not able to give a comment too.
Meanwhile, Admiral Brett Giroir, another member of the coronavirus task force, said during NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Dr. Fauci has not always been accurate.
“I respect Dr. Fauci a lot, but Dr. Fauci is not 100 percent right and he also doesn’t necessarily, he admits that, have the whole national interest in mind. He looks at it from a very narrow public health point of view,” Giroir said.
Dr. Fauci's comments
Dr. Fauci recently made a comment about the recent coronavirus surge in the US. He believes that states with coronavirus outbreaks must consider shutting down.
“What we are seeing is exponential growth. It went from an average of about 20,000 to 40,000 and 50,000. That’s doubling. If you continue doubling, two times 50 is 100,” Fauci said during a Wall Street Journal podcast.
“Any state that is having a serious problem, that state should seriously look at shutting down. It’s not for me to say because each state is different,” he noted.
“Among the states, and there’s admission from within, some states went too fast, some states went according to what the timetable was, but the people in the state didn’t listen and just threw caution to the wind,” he said.
“Some states, it gets frustrating, because, not to name any states, but some states admittedly opened up too early and too quickly, so that was something that probably should not have happened that led to this,” he added.
